Eido Shimano Collection

The Eido Shimano Collection

Eido Tai Shimano, retired Abbot of the Zen Studies Society in New York, has been the subject of many public complaints of ethical misconduct during his teaching career in the United States. This collection is devoted to the issues revolving around this very sad story.

February, 2011

The root of the word “scandal” comes from the Greek skandalon, meaning snare or cause of moral stumbling. Over time “skan” became the word for the stick used to spring a trap. Now its meaning has shifted from pointing to the cause of stumbling to the stumbling itself. Every human society and organization is prone to moral stumbling, and just ...

By Jan Chozen Bays (edited by Hozan Alan Senauke) This article from 1998 was originally published by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship in their book ‘Safe Harbor; Guidelines, Process and Resources for Ethics and Right Conduct in Buddhist Communities.’ A Parable After 10 years of hard study Mojo begins work as a spiritual teacher with only a dozen students. The students ...

By Diane Musho Hamilton Websites: dianemushohamilton.com bouldermountainzendo.org I have been listening to a lot of discussions on the web recently about ethical violations of Zen teachers, about their breaches of trust, and lack of good faith in how they have treated the people they purport to be guiding. The heated complaints elicit an outcry of responses calling for the development ...

In studying the recent revelations of the Zen Studies Society (Rev. Eido Shimano) and Kanzeon Zen Center (and the apology of now disrobed Genpo Merzel), we see similar actions, sangha reactions and harm to students and communities. My view is that we cannot count on either the teacher or the sanghas where the misconduct has occurred to explain to us ...

In response to the scandals enveloping certain Zen teachers, most notably these days, Eido Shimano and Genpo Merzel, I sometimes hear it said that, flawed as these individuals are, they nonetheless have played an important part in the transmission of Zen in America, and we must not “throw the baby out with the bath water.” This attitude is also being ...

March, 2011

Why Buddhist teachers have sex with their students—and what we can do about it By Stephan Bodian Preface In 2005, Tricycle, for which I’m a contributing editor, commissioned me to write an article exploring the controversial issue of sexual relationships between Buddhist teachers and their students. I had already interviewed Chozen Bays about her relationship with Maezumi Roshi, and I ...

The recent news items involving Eido Tai Shimano and Genpo Merzel have been challenging for everyone. It is a very stressful situation for individuals, sanghas, teachers, publishers and readers. There is no easy way to look at these things, no way to sidestep the issues. If you cover the stories, people become offended. If you don’t cover the stories, people ...

This is a statement by sixteen former and current members of the ZSS Sangha who met together for a meeting on Sunday March 20, 2011, facilitated by Grace Schireson and Barry Magid (pictured). While acknowledging the many positive and beneficial experiences of practice we have taken a first step toward healing from fifty years of trauma caused by misconduct by ...

April, 2011

Rev. Nonin Chowaney (b. 1941) is an American Soto Zen (OPW) priest, brush calligrapher, and the current abbot and head priest of the Nebraska Zen Center at the Heartland Temple in Omaha, Nebraska. A Dharma heir of the late Dainin Katagiri-roshi, Chowaney received Dharma transmission in 1989 and is the founder of an organization of Soto priests known as The ...

Scott Edelstein recently sat down to discuss his book, Sex and the Spiritual Teacher: Why It Happens, When It’s a Problem, and What We All Can Do. He has studied happily and productively with several spiritual teachers, including Toni Packer, Dainin Katagiri, Tim McCarthy, and (currently) Steve Hagen. As the friend of several spiritual teachers, he has also spent much ...

May, 2011

Tricycle magazine recently brought attention to an old interview with Nancy Baker which appeared in their spring 2001 issue, titled “Of Samurai and Sisterhood.” You can read it here. Where to begin? Some of the things which were discussed in this interview are applicable to the latest two incidents involving Eido Shimano and Genpo Merzel. I have to admit that ...

Vertaald in Dutch Tim Zentetsu Burkett (b. 1943) is a Soto Zen teacher and abbot of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center (MZMC). He is a licensed psychologist with a Ph.D. in Psychology and executive director of People Incorporated, a non-profit that provides services for mentally-ill people. Tim came to Zen practice in 1964, studying under Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi; he then opened ...

This is a very open teisho by Genjo Marinello Osho on the status of his teacher, Eido Tai Shimano, who was recently forced to stop teaching upon new disclosures of sexual indiscretions with students. Apparently Shimano is interested in teaching again and has some supporters within the Zen Studies Society who wish to see this happen. While Genjo Osho speaks ...

June, 2011

This was an internal message to members of Chobo-Ji from Genjo Marinello Osho. He writes, “Here is an update to my Chobo-Ji Sangha about my take of recent events in NY. I don’t usually make these internal Chobo-Ji updates available to the general public, but I thought in the interest of transparency, if you think it is worth posting in ...

July, 2011

Dear Dharma Sisters and Brothers, It has been a great burden mixed with great pleasure working with all of you over this past year through such difficult times. I feel we all have grown immensely from our efforts to serve our legacy and sangha. However, I’ve exhausted my reserves, and I need to concentrate on my practice in Seattle, as ...

September, 2011

Dear Board, The question is how can the ZSS board demonstrate plainly that any impasse has cleared. I think the answer is relatively simple. I know a sincere effort was made at the Sangha Meeting, August 26-28, to bring the two factions together to hear each other so that movement could be made to arrive on the same page towards ...

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